The Conversation (1974)

Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is a film about a surveillance expert, Harry Caul, whose moral conscience leads him to get attached to a particular case that eventually takes away the one thing he truly possesses: his privacy. Harry finds himself getting more and more engaged in the case after his surveillance of a couple uncovers a potential murder plot. In the sequence that this essay will analyse, his dilemma escalates after a meeting with Martin, the director’s assistant, after which he refuses to give up the tapes to anyone but the director and refuses the money. Here, Coppola unifies the audience’s and Harry’s perspective by presenting the scene through Harry’s point of audition. This employment of point of audition amplifies the use of restricted narrative, making the audience feel Harry’s shock and moral dilemma, forming a deeper bond between the audience and Harry.

The scene begins with a long shot of Martin with his echoing voice booming through the hallway as Harry leaves for the elevator. The echoing voice provides a sense of distance and spatial separation between Martin and Harry. The sound of his voice slowly dissipating also hints at the stance that Harry takes. His refusal of the money and of giving up the tapes is a benchmark in his growing personal involvement in the case. Martin’s distant voice is almost reminiscent of the easy money and detachment to the case that he left behind along with the money that Martin is offering. 

As Harry reaches the elevator, he runs into Mark who is seen conversing with someone. As the realization dawns on him that Mark works under the man who has hired him to record his conversation, the ambience starts to intensify. The intensity of the ambience grows so strong that it drowns out Mark’s words. This absence of distinct conversation and any other sound besides the ambience combines with the medium close up shot of Mark to concentrate the audience’s attention on him. Here, Coppola utilises point of view cutting to match Harry’s expression of absolute shock with the source of his emotions. The addition of point of audition, thus, not only functions as a counterpoint to the images on screen but what Harry feels in the scene. His realization almost puts him into shock where he can hear nothing but the ambience. The intense ambience, thus, reinforces the restricted narrative as the audience is only allowed to hear and feel what Harry is feeling in the moment. 

As Mark enters an elevator and gets out of the frame, the ding sound marking the arrival of another elevator is heard distinctly along with the grauch of the elevator’s working machinery. Harry then proceeds to enter the elevator from where he sees the partial figure of Martin shaking his head at him. When the elevator doors finally close, the combined sound of intensifying ambience and the graunching sound of the elevator going to the next floor make up all the diegetic sound. This is followed by the elevator stopping at another floor where people start entering the elevator. The ruffling sound of clothes and the tapping of shoes starts to gradually normalize the heightened ambience until Harry’s eyes land on Ann. As soon as she starts to enter the elevator, the piano solo starts playing. This the only non diegetic sound in the sequence.

The film uses the musical score at multiple points throughout the film. However, each time there are few variations to reflect the mood Harry is in. Here, to express his shock and dilemma, the theme plays in a minor key with a repeating pattern. The tempo is quite slow to match the slow passage of time on screen as the point of view edits show Harry’s uneasiness in Ann’s presence. In every scene that employs the score in the film, there is no dialogue and the shots are framed to bring attention to Harry’s expression, making the audience feel what he is going through. This scene is no exception as Harry’s eyes are fixated on Ann and the camera tilts down from his face to bring attention to him holding the tapes tighter to express his paranoia. In a similar scene where the score is used, Harry is taking the bus from his girlfriend’s apartment. The camera frames Harry in a medium close up to draw attention to his expressions and actions. The score again utilises a repeating pattern and this time in, possibly, a moderato to reflect Harry’s uneventful lonely lifestyle. 

An important detail of the score is the instrument used. Coppola does not use an orchestra or a group of instruments for the score. The score is always played by a solo piano. An orchestra implies a collection of instruments that come together and work in harmony to create a piece. However, Harry is the literal personification of solitude in the film. He does not let anyone into his life. He even restricts Stanley’s access to his work life despite Stanley working for him. He secludes himself from everyone to the point that the only real thing he possesses is his privacy. The solo piano perfectly embodies Harry’s loneliness and seclusion. Using an orchestra could have given the audience access to the outside world of Harry’s consciousness, giving them a chance to become observers. However, by denying any accompaniment to the piano in the score, Coppola not only makes the music reflect Harry’s personality but constricts the audience’s perspective to be that of Harry’s, creating a deeper emotional bond between them. Thus, the impact of him getting completely stripped off of his privacy at the end of the film increases in magnitude as this attachment between the audience and Harry strengthens.

After Harry moves away from Ann to physically distant himself from her, the score slowly fades out and is replaced by ambience and the whirling sound of the recorder rewinding the tapes fading in. The scene then cuts to a shot of the turning tapes on the recorder, bringing the audience to Harry’s shop where he repeatedly plays the recording of the conversation over and over. Throughout this part of the sequence, the sound often does not corroborate with the images seen on screen. Sometimes the recording is heard while Harry and Stanley are talking to each other while at one point, the conversation between Ann and Mark can be seen while the audio includes Stan’s voice saying “what a stupid conversation”. The scene keeps dabbling between the present where the audio is diegetic and the audience is aware of the source of the voices (the recorded tapes) and the past where the audio matches Ann and Mark’s acting, yet the audience can infer the source is still the recording due to the difference in sound quality of the recording from the voices of actors. This awareness comes from the scratchy effect of the audio playing over the recording as well as the inclusion of Stan and Harry’s voices while the recorded conversation is played. This constant back and forth between the shots of Harry’s shop and the real conversation and the misalignment of the sound reflects on Harry’s mental state of obsession with the conversation. He attempts to understand the contents of the conversation and the goal of the director with such desperation that he starts forgetting his present self and immerses himself in to the recording. He replays not only the audio over and over but reimagines the movement of the couple while the recording was taking place in the past. 

Throughout the sequence, sound is presented from Harry’s point of audition building the restricted narrative that brings the audience closer to Harry. Coppola’s use of intensified ambience to reflect Harry’s shock and paranoia when he starts to realize Mark’s connection to the director and the use of main score when he sees Ann, draws attention to his actions and expressions as all other sound drowns out. Similarly, though the conversation between Ann and Mark is repeated numerous times throughout the film, it is in this sequence where he starts immersing himself in and obsessing over the recording to the point that the visuals and audio of the present and past start mixing up. Coppola constantly uses sound to divert audience’s attention to the important details while bringing their perspective closer to Harry’s by restricting their access to the world outside Harry’s awareness.

Works Cited

Coppola, Francis Ford, director. The Conversation. Paramount pictures, 1974.